So let’s just do a quick spot check on the main factions and whose running what…
Alliance:
Humans/Faction - Turalyon(M)
Worgen - Genn (M)
Night Elves - Tyrande (F)
Dwarves - Council with 2M 1F last I checked with a supposed baby (M) meant to rule them all for reasons
Gnomes - Mechadork (M)
Draenei - Velen (M)
LF Draenei - Turalyon?
Void Elves - Alleria (F) - Edit Wait is she even in official charge or is it that dude we do the BfA war campaign with whose name is otherwise forgettable but still clearly male?
Kul Tiran - Jaina (F)
Mechagnomes - Prince Moron (M)
Horde
Orcs - Etrigg? Male if so
Trolls - Dunno
Tauren - Baine (M)
Blood Elves - Lord Dork (M)
Goblin - King FattyMcGreedywhatever (M)
Nightborne - Traitor Thrallysa (F)
HM Tauren - Maya (F)
Mag’har Orcs - Female someone forgettable and not important (F)
Zandalari - Talanji (F)
Vulpera - Some dopey fox man whose otherwise not imporant. Kiro something maybe? (M)
Undead - Council of MOSTLY males but SHOULD be ruled by Calia…so mostly males there
And some other rando factions:
Deathknights - Bolvar the lame (M)
Druids - Cenarius (M)
Demon Hunters - Illidan Freaking most overrated person in WoW canon Stormrage (M)
Monks - Chen? Some guy in the center spot? Either way (M)
Paladins - Has it ever been led by a female and who knows since yet another male paladin dudebro died (M)
Priest - Alonsus Foul - (M)
Rogue - Council of mostly all males or maybe Lord Ravenholdt who also is male
Mage - Council of split genders but Khadger likely in charge and male
Warlock - Council and dunno who is highest/in charge
Shamans - Thrall? Male if so
Warrior - Odyn (M)
As for the Shadowlands itself…
Bastion - Krysteia the hawtness (F)
Night Fae - Winter Queen the lame (F)
Maldraxxus - Primus (M). Draka is NOT in charge overall just over the chosen faction and is/was as influential as DK lametard crybaby (M)
Revendreth - Renethal (M) and Denathriius before (also M)
Oribos - Super crybaby arbiter boy Pelegos the loser extreme (M)
Korthia - Some lame floaty guy (M)
ZM - Council of I believe 2 male and 1 female
With more time and effort I’m not going to put in, we could do notable groups like SI-7 who also happens to be run by a male. Odds are really high that if you really get into the nitty gritty, then sure females are getting a lot of prominence as of late, but are still far behind the prominent lore curve so to speak.
But Anduin did take over and in his seat as regent lord since Shadowlands is Turalyon. The council of three hammers is 2/3 male, Muradin, Falstad, and Moira. Gelbin Mekkatorque chalks up another, Baine, Lor’themar Theron, The Desolate Council is 2/5 male, Gallywix sadly still exists, Greymane is still out there being angry and kingly, the point is we’re not exactly experiencing a dearth of male leadership.
The last three expansions have been the conclusion of almost all of the remaining Warcraft 3 characters, Illidan, Sylvanas, Arthas in part, as well as old guard Warcraft 2 characters like Khadgar, Turalyon, Alleria, the old ideas of a single warchief, especially leading to the defeat and pseudo redemption of Sylvanas, it’s been closing the chapters laid out by the RTS games for years and we finally look to be moving toward something new.
You’re not wrong in noticing a pattern, but it’s not a pattern of significance, it’s equalization and representation homie.
It entirely depends on who your audience is, what the demographic make-up of that audience is, and how much historical inspiration you are taking from reality.
If the argument of inclusion is relatability, and 80% of the players were men, would it make sense to have 50% female leads? I am just pulling these numbers out of the air, I dont actually know the split of men and women of WoW.
Then you have to break it down further. How many of those women consider historical inspiration important? How many are playing because they actually LIKE the way the setting is?
When you change a setting for the sake of inclusion, people often leave. The reason is because the people there were there because they liked the setting the way it was. You can’t just do inclusion because it feels good or whatever.
Well if 80% of the players are men then you have a self fulfilling prophesy. Make a game for men where women are in the background and oh my gosh, for some reason most people who play are men.
And yes, some men might leave but some women might replace them.
They shouldn’t have to if they are a good writer. That is the main issue with all modern story telling it’s lazy, sloppy and unbelievable and that is why see flop after flop after flop in TV shows, movies and games.
Well, from what we have seen from everything that has gone inclusive, people leave in mass and there isn’t enough people to come in and replace them. That’s why you see failure after failure. Spurn your original audience and you will often find that the new audience you are courting simply aren’t actually interested.
If you make something, and an audience arrives. Then you can’t be surprised when that audience suddenly leaves when it’s changed, it’s pure idiocy. On top of that, they often get insulted and called bigots for doing so. It’s just dumb, I realize you aren’t doing that, but I am tired of seeing it repeat itself.
I ultimately agree with people “Representation is Important.” So people have a right to get angry, feel betrayed, and leave when they are no longer represented.
What’s wrong with social justice? Are you saying John Locke was wrong when he wrote about civil liberties being unalienable and not coming from the King?
Yeah… I’m all for equality and diversity and such, races and genders are all welcome imo. I just have a thing against diversity for diversitys sake. Passing over better candidates because they aren’t X gender or race and doesn’t conform to a desired ratio is a horrible idea and makes everything worse.
Diversity is great when it works but horrible when it doesn’t. Many recent tv shows and such, for example, as you said seem to handpick cast by race and gender, then the show flops because they have no chemistry with each other or worse, are just plain bad actors.
Then sometimes it just doesn’t make any sense at all. Take Rings of Power as an example. Many of the communities and nations you see in that show are independent of each other and have been closed off from the rest of the world for many, many generations. Yet their communities are made up of a very wide range of ethnicities and skin colours. Realistically, after so many generations of staying isolated from the rest of the world, the majority of the mixed ethnicities would inevitably be bred out, leaving the vast majority of the people as whatever genes ends up being the dominant for the climate.
It’s just things like that which makes it abundantly clear companies work off a checklist rather than choosing the best for the job. I long for the day when the general public realises that actively looking for people of colour to fill a diversity ratio is tokenism and equally as racist as actively refusing people of colour.
Well TV and movie viewership is down because so many people are turning to social media and streaming for entertainment. If you look in those areas, where there is more diversity, business is booming.
Also, given the smaller TV/Movie audience, there are plenty of successful stories. Also, diversity does really well on Reality TV. Survivor is a leader in diversity and they are in their 22nd year and going strong.
I think they’re trying for more equal representation and it roughly is equal now. I’d rather they stop killing off characters I like but that doesn’t seem likely
We’ll have to deal with Wrathion’s smug butt all expansion so there’s a new male leader for you OP.
That’s the whole point of the Primus, though. His portfolio is literally waging war against threats against the Shadowlands.
Zaela is just the “Garrosh did nothing wrong” memers taken to their logical extreme. She thought he was great (partially because he did support her coup against her old boss) and decided to follow him… far past the point where she ought to have cut her losses, because if there’s one thing orcs are bad at, it’s knowing when to quit.
Yes, he is entirely wrong about that. People only have the rights their government grants them. Locke is easily my least favorite philosopher, he just seems detached from reality. The only way to make him correct is to hide away in the woods and hope the government doesn’t find you.
Booming? We see flop after flop. That’s why every new show made to be super diverse is panned by his audience and usually gets canceled after one or two seasons. And I am not talking about TV, I am talking about streaming platforms.
